“My wife and daughter are freaked out and so am I,” the homeowner, a former Marine, said in the 911 call. He said the intruder lunged at him but he was able to get on top of him. “I’m sitting on top of him right now” he told the 911 operator.
The 43-minute cruiser camera video shows an apparently intoxicated LaPrath’s interactions with the police officers who responded to the burglary reported in the 4700 block of Strathaven Drive. The residence is about 2.7 miles from the FOP hall, which is on Powell Road in Huber Heights.
“Rough night at the ball?” one Dayton police officer asks LaPrath before leading him to the cruiser. “We’re just going down that stairs to the left. How well can you walk right now? Can you go down these stairs and not fall on your face?”
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
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As he gets to the cruiser, LaPrath asks, “Anyone feel the need to tell me what the (expletive) is going on?”
An officer responds: “Not right now. You will be filled in, OK. Because right now we’re still trying to figure out what is going on.”
A handcuffed LaPrath mostly lies back and appears to sleep in the backseat as he was transported to the jail. One officer told LaPrath the cruiser cam was on and not to say anything “stupid.”
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Twice, LaPrath asks for a cigarette. Audio captures one officer respond to another, “No, he is LaPrath,” the officer said. “I’m assuming he went to the police ball and he’s insanely intox.”
At one point LaPrath tells an officer he is going to vomit.
“I’m going to throw up in the back seat of your car,” LaPrath tells an officer, who responds, “Please do not do that.”
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Officers did let him out of the car as LaPrath said, “Watch your boots, buddy.”
LaPrath, 33, is on unpaid administrative leave, according to a Dayton police statement about the criminal case and associated internal affairs investigation.
A prosecutor’s office spokesman said LaPrath’s case will be heard by a grand jury but that no date had been set.
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Oakley, who did not attend the ball, said union legal services only kick in for administrative investigations and when an incident happens during a work shift. LaPrath was off-duty at the time of the burglary.
A Montgomery County jail sergeant said the homeowner and arresting officers felt LaPrath was intoxicated and may have gone to the wrong house.
The Daily News was unable to determine where LaPrath was from the time he left the ball to when he was arrested, or how he got the residence.
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“That is a (expletive) nightmare, man,” LaPrath said near the end of the video.
Dayton police said they would not facilitate an interview with LaPrath, an 11-year officer who has had mostly positive marks in his three most recent performance evaluations. LaPrath’s criminal attorney is not known since no formal case has been filed.
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